The Academy series is a series of award winning novels based on the mystery fiction and science fiction genres. It was written by multiple award winning American author named Jack Mcdevitt. The series is comprised of a total of 7 books which were released between the years 1994 and 2013. Author McDevitt has introduced the chief protagonist of this series as Priscilla Hutchins and has set the plot of each and every book of this series around the scientific adventures of this character. One of the initial books written in the series by Jack McDevitt is titled as ‘Deepsix’. It was released by the Eos publication in the year 2000. In this book, author McDevitt has described Priscilla Hutchins as leading a few space archaeologists for investigating a lost civilization on the planet called Malevia III, which is also known as Deepsix. She is depicted as having only a week’s time to carry out her investigation before the planet is going to be destroyed by a collision with a gas giant. The plot opens up in the time of the year 2204. Due to some form of terror and tragedy, the scientific team that was investigating Malevia III is forced to evacuate. After a period of 21 years, the scientists learn that this life supporting planet is going to get completed destroyed due to the invasion of a rogue gas giant in the planetary system. The gas giant is set to collide with Malevia III and if this happens, it would cause a deadly effect and would probably vanish the planet forever. And with this, the opportunity for the scientists to carry out a study on the galactic rarity will also vanish.

At this point in the plot, Priscilla Hutchins is introduced as a superluminal pilot working for the Science & Technology Academy. She is regarded as the only professional pilot qualified for traveling safely to Deepsix. As there are just 3 weeks left in the deadly collision, she is asked to lead a small team of scientists and descend to Deepsix’s surface. Priscilla and her team must glean whatever information they can about the planet’s lost civilization and life forms. In order to help her with the voyage, Priscilla is accompanied by Randall Nightingale, who is the survivor of the previous expedition. He was actually made a scapegoat for the failure of the original expedition and so he sees this opportunity as a second chance to prove his worth. When the team reaches the doomed planet, they find that it is filled with much more complex and strange things than they had imagined. They come across stone cities hidden under the ice, hidden predators, remnants of a primitive society, etc. Priscilla and his archaeological team also come across hints of some form of impossible technology that was hidden in the rubble and orbiting with the planet.

The more Priscilla continues to delve into the mysteries of the planet, the more puzzles she comes across and within those puzzles they find more puzzles. They are lead to startling discoveries and shocking observations, which only make them have more perplexing and greatly confusing questions. Shortly after, an incident occurs which was not anticipated by Priscilla Hutchins and the team of scientists. The only means of the escape of the team gets destroyed due to an earthquake. Many sightseers and scientists have arrived to see the spectacular end of planet Malevia III. But before that, they get to witness the difficult situation of Priscilla and her fellow scientists helplessly from several miles above. In such a hostile situation, Priscilla Hutchins and the team must use all the resources left with them and somehow survive on the plant which is rapidly going mad. As the time passes by speedily and relentlessly towards the unavoidable apocalypse, the team is required to find some or the other way to get themselves off Deepsix. If they are not able to do so within the time left with them, they will plunge into the depths of the gas giant like pebbles. Priscilla knows very well that the time is very difficult for them, but still she tries to keep her team motivated. Her determination to live and survive makes them successful in developing a plan to come out of the planet safely.

The next novel written in the series by Jack McDevitt is titled as ‘Chindi’. It was published in the year 2002 by the Ace Paperback publication. Once again author McDevitt has described Priscilla Hutchins as the chief protagonist in the middle of a mysterious space mission. At the start of the book, it is shown that a starship of the Academy receives a transmission signal while it is on a routine mission of surveying and studying one of the neutron stars. But, the problem is that the transmission comes in an unfamiliar language. Just before the starship is about to leave that area in space, it launches several satellites to track the signal and find its origin. After a period of 5 years, one of the satellites finally comes across the origin of that signal and traces it to an extraterrestrial region. The Contact Society, which funds the research missions about the existence of aliens and comprising of some wealthy enthusiasts, decides to find more information about the extraterrestrial signal. It provides a starship for this mission and asks Priscilla Hutchins to pilot and help find the source of the signal. But, Hutchins and her crew are able to discover only puzzles and shocking surprises during their course through the different world across the galaxy. Later, they come across an object far away in the planetary system. It appears to be ominous, immense, and mysterious. The object is believed to have answers to all the questions about the alien existence. Priscilla brings that object to the Academy and with the help her team of scientists, she begins a research study on it. This novel became very much popular all over the world. Its success helped it to be nominated for the prestigious Nebula Award in the year 2003. The nomination helped author McDevitt increase his popularity as a science fiction novelist even further. He also gained a lot of motivation for writing many more novels in this series as well as in his writing career. A number of critics and readers also praised author McDevitt for his excellent writing style and description of characters.

Master of the standalone thriller genre, Shari Lapena, is back. Author of The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest is the latest novel by Shari. It takes place in a cozy mountain lodge in Winter where various people are staying for a romantic getaway. A blizzard cuts off the power and any contact with the outside world so everyone settles in for the long haul. Then a guest dies. And another. Knowing Shari's other books, this should be one we'll be reading late into the night. For more details or to pre-order, visit our Shari Lapena page.

Recommendations

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Featured Series

Our book series of the month is the Will Robie Series by David Baldacci. If you like Mitch Rapp, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne etc then you'll love the Will Robie series. These are page turners to the max too and Baldacci knows how to keep you going all night long!

Featured Author

Bill Wenham is the author of various book series including The Inspector Charrington Mysteries and the Inspector Bruce Mysteries. He just started writing in his 80s to follow a life long dream. It’s an amazing story and the books he has written are pretty great too – his passion really shines through. Read more about Bills books.

Did You Know…

Andy McNab was born on 28 December 1959. Found abandoned on the steps of Guy's Hospital in Southwark in a Harrods shopping bag, he was brought up in Peckham, with his adoptive family. He did not do well in school, dropped out and worked at various odd jobs, usually for friends and relatives, and was involved in petty criminality, finally being arrested for burglary in 1976.